


your heart loves so differently

by sunglaze



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Best Friends Choi Soobin & Choi Yeonjun, Choi Beomgyu is Oblivious, Confessions, M/M, Roommates, hanlimz besties, side tyunning, soogyu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28240167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunglaze/pseuds/sunglaze
Summary: Beomgyu has just moved out of his hometown, and his first encounter with a stranger in Seoul turns out to be unfortunate. That meeting with the stranger doesn’t happen to be the last, though.Or, Beomgyu and Soobin are roommates in college. Cue regular college student things and add in some romance and necessary realizations.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Choi Soobin, Huening Kai/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 4
Kudos: 87
Collections: TXT Secret Santa Fic Fest 2020





	your heart loves so differently

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yoonfrogi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoonfrogi/gifts).



> hello !!
> 
> first of all merry christmas ^^ im rly glad to be participating in this fic fest ++ thank u to the moderator for organizing everyth!! the prompt i chose is mina's (yoonfrogi) i hope i did it some justice & hopefully you'll like it!
> 
> this is also kinda inspired by paper rings - taylor swift :D
> 
> thank you to my friends who beta read this!
> 
> enjoy reading!

Beomgyu likes to believe that he’s an independent person. He believes (and knows) that he’s old and wise enough to move into a whole new city for college and start a whole new life there.

That’s why when he receives acceptance letters from two universities (one in Seoul, and one in Daegu – his hometown) he begs and begs his parents to let him study in the university located in Seoul.

His parents tell him that he can just study in Daegu – he’s been living there his whole life, so he doesn’t need to make adjustments anymore. He already has a lot of friends in his hometown so he won’t have to worry about making new ones in Seoul, his parents argue. They say that Seoul is so far away from Daegu. (Beomgyu’s mom tells him that she’s worried about what he’ll have to eat if he moves to Seoul, knowing how college students can be.) They also point out that he’s going to have to get rid of his Daegu accent, and they don’t want their son coming home speaking a language sounding so different when he comes home.

But Beomgyu is relentless, so he points out the flaws in his parents’ arguments. He tells them that Seoul has much more opportunities, and it’s Seoul, who doesn’t want to attend college there? He’s been presented with a big opportunity, and he isn’t going to pass up on it so easily. He tells them that he’s never had any problems with making friends – in fact, he’ll probably make a hundred more friends in Seoul. He counters that Daegu is only about 2 hours away from Seoul through KTX, so he can come home any time. He also tells them that his Daegu accent isn’t so easy to get rid of – even if he tries, he’ll probably have to go through hell to force on a Seoul accent.

It’s his mom’s argument that he can’t fight against. Beomgyu doesn’t know how to cook, and he knows that he tends to forget the flow of time when he’s too focused on things. Still, he’s persistent, so he promises to take care of himself and consume enough protein and carbs for a college student.

It takes weeks of endless persuasive speeches and hundreds of favors for his parents (just so their hearts can soften at least a bit for their son) before they allow him to attend the university in Seoul.

When they do, Beomgyu cheers and gives them a big hug (just like how it was when he was a little kid) and promises them that he’ll take care of himself – he’ll even send them pictures of his meals through Kakaotalk.

On the day that Beomgyu is scheduled to finally move to Seoul, he boards the train with a big smile on his face while bidding his parents farewell. His mom gives him a (disgustingly loud) smooch on his cheek while his father pats his back and tells him to keep his promises. They finally let him go five minutes before the train leaves with looks of fondness in their faces, realizing that their youngest child has indeed grown up already.

When the train comes to a stop about two hours later, Beomgyu leaves with the two suitcases being dragged behind his back. He rushes to call a cab (thankfully, it isn’t that hard to find one) and directs the driver to the address of his university. The travel doesn’t take too long since the place isn’t too far from the train station.

After dragging his two heavy suitcases out of the taxi, he makes his way to the office to retrieve his dorm keys. As he’s walking, he takes in his surroundings – tall trees are everywhere in the campus, giving him a breath of fresh air (literally). To his right is the big campus field. There are some students playing football, while some are simply sitting on the field in small and big groups.

Beomgyu takes a deep breath and sighs to himself. Finally, he’s here in Seoul – where he’ll be studying for the next few years. (And possibly where he’ll work, but Beomgyu doesn’t want to think about that, yet.) He smiles at the bright blue sky with wisps of clouds scattered everywhere – not too much that it hides the gleam of the sun, but not too minimal that the sun feels too hot against his skin. He thinks about what can possibly happen in the next few hours, or maybe on his first day of school, and –

“Ah!”

Beomgyu hears a high-pitched yelp behind him. His eyes shoot open in surprise and he looks for the source of the sound. He looks behind him and sees a guy clutching his foot in one hand and holding coffee in the other, with his mouth curled in a grimace of pain.

“You rolled your heavy ass suitcase on my foot!” The male jumps around while attempting to soothe his foot by pressing on it. (He’s probably also another college student, but he doesn’t seem to be a freshman like Beomgyu.)

Beomgyu’s eyes widen even more and his mouth hangs in shock at what he had just done.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry!”

“What do you mean you’re sorry? Come help me here!”

Beomgyu lets go of the handles of the suitcases and rushes to the side of the male. He takes his arm around his shoulders and guides him to sit on the nearby bench. Once the male seems comfortable enough, Beomgyu crouches down to inspect his foot. It seems okay (to him, at least.)

“Should I call the infirmary?” Beomgyu looks up to ask the male, and when he does, he finally sees his face better.

Wow, he’s pretty, alright.

Even though his face is scrunched into a terrible wince of pain.

His hair is a shocking blue (Beomgyu wonders how he didn’t notice it earlier with how bright it is) and his eyebrows are sharp, but they’re pulled together in a frown. His lips are a perfect cupid’s bow, shaped almost like a heart. His features are sharp, but somehow, his face looks soft to Beomgyu.

“It’s fine,” The male shakes his head, “You should just be careful next time. Why were you walking with your eyes closed, anyways?”

He stretches his foot around to ease the pain, and soon, his face isn’t curled into an ugly grimace anymore.

(Beomgyu thinks that he definitely looks prettier like this. And his face looks kind, too.)

“Well, you see–” Beomgyu pauses. How can he explain that he was vividly dreaming about his college life stretching several years into the future?

He relents, “Nevermind. Look, I’m really sorry. Can I make it up to you somehow?”

The male pauses to give it a thought, but he only shakes his head. “Just, go your own way and don’t roll your suitcase on someone else’s foot anymore.”

He shoots up from his spot with a little limp and Beomgyu follows to steady him by his elbow, but the male only brushes his hand away.

“I’m fine, really. I have somewhere to be right now.”

“Oh,” Beomgyu lets him go, “I’m really sorry.”

The male starts to retreat, giving Beomgyu a small wave. Beomgyu watches his back become smaller as he walks away.

“I promise I won’t run on anyone else’s foot again!” He calls out one last time when the male is already a good amount of distance from him. The student looks behind and gives Beomgyu a funny look. He turns around again and his shoulders shake a bit. Beomgyu assumes that he’s laughing.

_Well_ , Beomgyu thinks, _that was terrible for a first encounter in college_. He shakes off the thought to save himself from further drowning in more embarrassment by overthinking it. He hopes that he’ll never get to see the male again. He’s far too embarrassed to face him. (Or maybe not. Maybe he wants to see that pretty face again.)

After Beomgyu had retrieved his dorm keys from the office, he headed straight to the building only to find that the elevator was scheduled for maintenance today. He groans as he heads to the stairs and attempts to carry both of his suitcases all the way up, but it’s too hard for his body. He decides to take them one by one, so he leaves the other one just by the stairs.

It takes a while (and buckets of sweat – his shirt is already _soaked_ at the back) but Beomgyu finally sets the second suitcase down and heaves as he stretches back up. He holds his lower back that’s starting to hurt from carrying the two big suitcases for three flights of stairs.

It was a bad decision to move in today.

But at least, Beomgyu is finally standing in his dorm – the place where he’ll be living in for the first year of his college, where he’ll have to pull all-nighters to submit last minute essays with no proper citations, and where he’ll be making memories that will dictate the course of his brand-new life.

It’s thrilling. College is a whole new experience, and Beomgyu can’t wait for what he has to face in the next few months.

Beomgyu continues his daydreaming at the campus grounds earlier. He sighs with glee as he jumps into his bed. He picks the one on the far side of the door – he doesn’t want to be the first one to die in case a burglar breaks into his dorm; he’ll leave his roommate to face that. Sometimes, people have to make sacrifices, and Beomgyu would rather sacrifice a stranger than himself.

He observes the dull walls of the room; it looks dead for now, but give Beomgyu a week or two and he’ll have it decorated with polaroid pictures of him and his friends. At least with that, he’ll have some remnants of home in this dorm, in a whole new city, and he won’t have to feel so lonely and homesick all the time.

He hops off his bed, deciding that it’s better to pack as early as possible before college orientations start and notes start piling up on his desk. Before he can unzip the first suitcase, the door opens and a yellow suitcase rolls in, followed by a tall guy. He’s wearing black jeans with a dark blue button-up. His clothes seem a bit familiar until Beomgyu’s eyes trail up to his now roommate’s face and he realizes –

It’s the guy whom he accidentally rolled over with his suitcase.

Beomgyu’s mouth hangs in shock, and the male’s face mirrors a similar reaction to his with his bright eyes widened.

Beomgyu turns around, avoiding eye contact with his roommate. He faces the dull white wall as he speaks, “Y-you’re my roommate?”

He hears the guy drag the suitcase further into the room. The door shuts softly behind him.

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you, I guess? Even if we already met earlier...”

Beomgyu squeezes his eyes closed. His roommate _absolutely_ hates him.

“I’m really sorry again. I promise I’ll be a good roommate to you. Also, I didn’t roll on anyone’s foot after that.”

He hears his roommate awkwardly laugh, “Can you face me, at least? I feel like I’m talking to a wall.”

“I’m afraid I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I’m too embarrassed to.”

His roommate audibly sighs from behind him. Beomgyu hears footsteps from behind – his roommate is approaching him and is probably going to beat him up or something like that because he looks kind of of strong and –

Beomgyu opens one eye and is met with the sight of his roommate crouching at his eye level.

_Pretty_.

Beomgyu shakes his head at that thought. Not the time to be thinking about how pretty his roommate is when he’s about to get his ass beat.

“Look, I already told you it’s fine.” The pretty boy, slash, his roommate extends his hand to Beomgyu, “I’m Choi Soobin.”

Beomgyu looks at the hand. It looks warm and inviting, but it looks so much bigger than his and suddenly he’s imagining Choi Soobin twisting his arm behind his back as payback for rolling his foot over with his heavy suitcase.

Beomgyu mentally shivers at the thought. _It’s okay_ , he thinks, _Choi Soobin seems to be a harmless guy._

He takes the hand with a bit of hesitance in his actions. When he finally grips it, his roommate squeezes his hand softly. Beomgyu almost exhales with relief.

“It’s nice to meet you...” Soobin trails off.

Dumbfounded, it takes a moment for him to rack his brain for his name. He scrambles to answer, “Beomgyu. Choi Beomgyu.”

Soobin laughs at him and _wow_ that’s a beautifully composed piece of music right there, Beomgyu thinks. Maybe being roommates with him won’t be so bad if Beomgyu will get to hear that laugh every now and then.

“Nice to meet you, Beomgyu. I’m a broadcasting major and I’m in my second year.”

“Oh! I’m a music production major. In my first year, obviously.” Beomgyu laughs awkwardly. He realizes that he’s been holding Soobin’s hand for too long, so he quickly lets go and sets his hand back into his lap.

Soobin smiles at him and _wow_ his smile is really pretty and it curls just perfectly across his face and his cheeks bunch up adorably and Beomgyu _really_ needs to stop staring at his roommate before the male starts to hate him even more.

“Let’s get along well, hopefully? We’ll be roommates for a whole year.”

Beomgyu nods enthusiastically. Maybe this guy doesn’t hate him so bad after all.

Choi Beomgyu is positive that his roommate hates him.

Two weeks into college, he finds himself on a Zoom call with his high school friends, Taehyun and Kai. It took them a while to find a time where their schedules match up with how college has made them busier than ever, so they take all the time in the world to catch up with each other.

Right now, Beomgyu is telling them about his roommate. Thank god Soobin has classes until the evening for today.

“I’m sure he hates me. Like, one time – actually _no,_ it was multiple times – I was on my way to my 8am class, right, I forgot to turn off the lights and just before I left he told me to turn the lights off, and that I keep on forgetting. His tone was _threatening_.”

“Beomgyu,” Taehyun looks up from his phone to stare at his camera, “No sane person who had just woken up would say that nicely. Of course, he’s going to be annoyed.”

“Hear me out! The other day, he approached me while I was doing my readings to tell me that I left the lights on _again_. He said I really should just stick on a reminder near the switch to turn it off whenever I go out early. I felt like I was about to die.”

“I mean, that’s actually a good idea... Putting a reminder near the switch.” Kai says, “Did you actually do it?”

“Yeah, and I’ve turned off the lights every time since then,” Beomgyu smiles proudly, “I can be a good roommate, see?”

Taehyun side eyes him from the screen, and Beomgyu feels the stare almost piercing through his soul, “I think your Soobin just knows what to tell you so you guys can function as good roommates. I doubt he hates you.”

Kai nods, “Yeah. At least that’s resolved now.”

“It doesn’t stop there, though!” Beomgyu argues, “The other week, I made him tea to drink while he was studying. But he left it _untouched_. Does he think I poisoned it? Does he not want anything made by me? The tea is really good – you remember that, right? It always helped me calm down every time we had our finals.”

“Did you even ask if he drinks tea?” Taehyun asks.

“Well...” Beomgyu pauses to give it a thought, “How was I supposed to know?”

“I’m sure he appreciated it – maybe he just doesn’t like tea.” Kai attempts to comfort him through the call. Beomgyu isn’t sure if it’s entirely as effective when he’s physically with them.

“But,” Beomgyu continues, “Just yesterday, I asked him if he wants me to help him memorize some terms since I kept on hearing him repeat the same words for an hour. He only denied my offer.”

“Maybe he likes to study on his own?” Kai reasons out with a lilt in his tone.

Beomgyu shakes his head as he tucks himself further into his blanket, “I’m convinced he hates me.”

“Believe what you want, Gyu, but I really doubt that. You’re not so easy to hate – trust me.” Taehyun says as he shuffles around in his room, the shuffling of the covers audibly sounding through his microphone.

“Maybe you should ask him if he hates you? Maybe it’s all just a misunderstanding.” Kai adds.

Beomgyu gives the two of them a look. He hopes that it sends the same message as it does in real life even if it’s just through their computer screens. “Why are you both ganging up against me?”

“We’re just giving our honest opinions, Beomgyu-hyung.” Kai laughs at him.

“Hyuka, you’re spending too much time around Taehyun. Moving away for college was a mistake. You’ve changed so much without me being there to guide you little youngster. Now you’ve fallen into the wrong hands!” Beomgyu says dramatically. He wonders if the occupants of the neighboring dorms are already questioning the sanity of their dorm neighbor.

Taehyun only rolls his eyes playfully at Beomgyu’s antics, “He’s fallen into _just_ the right hands. Also – Hyuka is only a year younger than you. And so am I.”

“And that’s why he should be protected! Not you though, Taehyun-ah. You’re already terrifying.”

Taehyun sneers at him, “I wish I could put you in a headlock right now. Actually, I might just take the train right now to come there and physically body slam you to the hard concrete floor.”

“See?” Beomgyu directs his words to Kai, “Terrifying.”

Kai shakes his head as he laughs in a high pitch, “He’s gotten worse since you left. Taehyunie loves me too much to put me in a choke hold, so he currently doesn’t have anyone to chokehold anymore.”

“Kai-ya, I could still put you in a chokehold if I wanted. I’m just showing mercy.”

“ _Exactly_ what I’m saying. You wouldn’t do that because you don’t want to.”

“Stop, stop!” Beomgyu shouts before the two can start arguing any further. Just as he’s about to continue prodding fun at them, he hears keys jingle from behind the door.

“I think my roommate is here. I’ll talk to you guys later, bye!” Beomgyu hangs up from the call with a wide smile in his face just as Soobin comes in their room.

“You didn’t have to end the call just because I’m here, you know,” Soobin says as he places his bag on his desk, “I don’t really mind.”

“I’m sure you have to study, though. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Beomgyu watches as Soobin lets his body drop into his bed. He closes his eyes as he buries his face against his pillow. It seems like he’s had a long day.

“Not today. I’m kinda tired.” Soobin yawns. Beomgyu thinks it’s adorable.

“Oh,” Beomgyu shifts his eyes away from Soobin. He looks at the screen of his laptop – the tab of the previously ended call with Taehyun and Kai remains opened. On the side of his screen, notifications from his group chat with them continuously pop up. He doesn’t bother to read them yet.

Beomgyu looks at Soobin again. It seems like he’s already fallen asleep, with the way his hand hangs limp over the bed. His body always seemed a bit too big for the twin sized bed of their dorms. “Sleep well, Soobin-ssi.”

“Hyung,” Beomgyu gets startled by Soobin’s deep voice, “You should just call me hyung.”

He thought that Soobin was already asleep.

He tries the words out with his own tongue, “Okay, Soobin-hyung.”

That definitely sounds and feels better than the formal and awkward _Soobin-ssi_ that he’s been using ever since Soobin introduced himself.

Maybe Taehyun and Kai are right. Perhaps Beomgyu is only overthinking things and assuming that Soobin hates him solely because of their first unfortunate encounter. Soobin already told him it’s fine, right? _Right_ , Beomgyu thinks. He should probably also ask Soobin if he hates him, just in case.

The thing is, Beomgyu still finds Soobin a bit intimidating. He doesn’t want to face him up close and ask, _hyung, do you hate me?_ He’s terrified of what words might come out of Soobin’s mouth. So, Beomgyu resolves to making it up to Soobin by being more amiable towards him. Soobin was the one who told him to call him _hyung_ , anyways.

One thing that Beomgyu has noticed about his roommate over the past month that he’s known him: Choi Soobin likes to read, and he has some favorite books that he keeps on his small wooden desk.

On some nights, Beomgyu would wake up at the crack of dawn and peeps through one eye, only to see Soobin on his head with a small reading light and a book in his hand. Beomgyu would watch him, and Soobin would sit for minutes and minutes flipping through the yellowed pages of the book until Beomgyu falls asleep again. Soobin keeps some of his books on his desk – it seems like they’re his favorite books since Beomgyu always sees him reading the books from the very first page every now and then.

In an attempt to make amends with Soobin (Taehyun tells him that there’s no need to do that since his roommate most definitely doesn’t hate him, but Beomgyu refuses to listen), he tries to read the books that he always sees in Soobin’s hand.

He starts with the book that has the prettiest cover; this one is plain white, and its title is written in gold embellishments. There are little stars across the cover and they’re also printed in gold, and on the bottom right of the book is a little boy with gold hair and green overalls holding onto a thread that spreads out into a flock of birds. There’s a little planet below the little boy, and his feet are just a little distance away from it.

The book isn’t too thick – maybe half an inch thick when measured with a ruler, so Beomgyu decides to try reading it. He rests on his bed while leaning against the wall with the bright lights on. For the first few pages, he finds his mind drifting into thoughts other than the story in front of him. _Is Soobin-hyung coming back soon? What time does his classes end again today? How is Taehyun sure that he doesn’t hate me? Does Soobin-hyung still remember that day that I rolled over his foot with my suitcase?_

He shakes his head, brushing away his thoughts and proceeds to immerse himself back into the story. Before he knows it, he’s only ten pages away from the end of the short novel, and his heart feels a little bit tighter. He ends the book with a few tears held back and neatly places it back on Soobin’s desk. Now, he understands why Soobin would always go back to read the short story every now and then. Maybe that can be something to talk about with him, Beomgyu thinks.

The next time Beomgyu is left alone in their dorm with some free time in his hands, he decides to challenge himself by reading a thicker book on Soobin’s desk. This one has pages yellower than the first one he read. Its title is printed in black on the top of the page, and the english title is in red down the left side. In the middle of the cover is a woman in a fancy gown playing a piano. When Beomgyu reads the summary on the back of the book, it seems like it’s a story from a few centuries back. Beomgyu likes history, so he decides to sit down on his desk and read at least half of the book before Soobin comes home.

Except Beomgyu is too far into the story that he doesn’t realize Soobin entering their dorm with his laptop in one arm. He doesn’t realize the older’s presence until there’s a shadow looming over him, making it difficult to read the Korean characters printed across the pages of the book.

When Beomgyu turns around and meets Soobin’s eyes, he clutches his chest in surprise.

“You’re home,” He lets out breathlessly.

There’s a look of confusion written all over Soobin’s face, “I thought you hated reading.”

“Oh...” Beomgyu looks at the book on his desk, then back to Soobin’s tired face, “I found the book cover interesting.”

Soobin nods, like he’s receiving confirmation for something, “I was wondering why my books were rearranged all of a sudden.”

Beomgyu wants to hit his head repeatedly against the wall, but Soobin is right in front of him so he can do it only mentally. He thought that he placed the books in the right order, even in the right position and all.

“Are you mad?” Beomgyu almost whispers.

“No,” Soobin shakes his head, “Why would I be? It’s fine – you can read my books.”

Soobin turns around to sit on his own desk. He sets the laptop down and opens it. The intensity of the blue light coming from the device makes the room even brighter.

_He’s definitely mad_ , Beomgyu thinks. There’s something about Soobin’s tone that he can’t point out, but something is definitely not right with the weight of his words. Reading Soobin’s book was a bad idea, Beomgyu deems to himself.

Beomgyu closes the book and stands up. He tiptoes around Soobin (who’s already so focused into whatever document is open on his laptop) and places the book back where it previously was.

“It’s fine,” Soobin suddenly speaks, waving Beomgyu away, “You can continue reading it.”

“Oh,” Beomgyu slowly takes back the book. The story was starting to get interesting before Soobin unexpectedly came in. “Okay.”

So, he sits back on his desk and delves right back into the universe of the book. He flips through the pages, giggling and making noises of disapproval every now and then, all while Soobin studies on the other side of the room.

(If Beomgyu isn’t so immersed in the novel, he would hear Soobin laughing to himself whenever the younger male makes little noises of reactions.)

A week passes and Beomgyu finishes the book that he’s been reading. A week turns into two, and then three, and soon, he has read everything that Soobin recommends him. He finds every story entrancing and decides that Soobin has a good taste in books, and that maybe reading _isn’t_ so bad.

In those weeks, Beomgyu learns that Soobin is a good roommate when he doesn’t feel as if he has to tiptoe around the older. Soobin treats him well – he would bring Beomgyu food if he manages to eat at a restaurant that’s not fast food, and he would take Beomgyu’s laundry with him.

(Soobin insists that it’s better for the two of them to just have their laundry done on both days so it won’t be a hassle for the both of them since they’re two busy college students with projects and papers piling up on their desks. Beomgyu feels ashamed that Soobin would have to take his laundry all the time, so he offers to be the one to take the laundry every other week. Soobin accepts, despite arguing for a good while that it’s fine – he had always been in charge of the laundry, anyways. This time, though, Beomgyu wants to help divide their roommate responsibilities better.)

It turns out, however, that Soobin had a good reason to have been assigned to laundry in his first year of college.

Beomgyu usually likes to be neat. He likes to pick up after himself and make sure to return things right where they belong as soon as he finishes using them, so as to not misplace anything. He likes to put his dirty clothes folded in the laundry basket since clutter in the room reduces his ability to focus.

Soobin is the complete opposite of him. Despite numerous reminders from Beomgyu, he always forgets to place his clothes in the right laundry basket. He’d leave some of his things cluttered on his side of the room, and his desk would _always_ be a mess. It makes Beomgyu’s head hurt.

Every human has their own flaws after all, Beomgyu deems to himself. This must’ve been how Soobin felt when Beomgyu kept on forgetting to turn off the lights before leaving for his morning classes.

Sometimes, things get too cluttered in their dorm – Beomgyu would lose his calculus worksheet that he’d printed out the other day and would somehow find in under Soobin’s desk. He also finds the missing pair of his lavender socks at Soobin’s desk. He wonders how it ended up there.

So, when things get a bit too messy, Beomgyu takes it to himself to clean up their dorm. He doesn’t mind cleaning up after Soobin – he’s always thought the task to be more of a therapeutic activity rather than a chore. Soon, it becomes part of his routine. A few times a week, Beomgyu would take time to clean up their dorm. The sight of an organized room makes it easier for him to breathe.

Soobin complains, embarrassed that his younger roommate has to clean his mess, so he offers to completely take the role of doing laundry. Beomgyu lets him, out of sympathy for his senior’s pride. And just like that, they have their roommate duties divided equally.

Over the weeks, they bond over things other than laundry and cleaning, of course. While Beomgyu is doing a composition for one of his classes with an electric guitar in his lap, Soobin looks over curiously and watches him as he strums and plucks the strings of the guitar softly. The faint vibrations reverberate softly throughout the room. Beomgyu set the amplifier to a low volume in consideration of his roommate who’s currently resting on his bed with a book over his face.

“You can turn up the volume, you know,” Soobin peeks at him from behind his book, “I don’t mind.”

Beomgyu looks at him and stretches over to adjust the volume of his amplifier, “You sure? I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Mhm,” Soobin is back to reading his book, “I like listening to music.”

“Really? What music do you listen to, hyung?” Beomgyu settles back into his chair and positions his arm back over the guitar, preparing to play the chords in his mind.

“Oh, a lot. I listen to basically every genre,” Soobin laughs.

Beomgyu nods and laughs along, “Same here.” He continues to strum.

So, they bond over their similar tastes in music and favorite artists. Sometimes, when they’re both just about to sleep, one of them would play a song from their phone. Sometimes, it would be a song that Beomgyu has always liked ever since he was a child. Other times, it would be a song that Soobin had just recently discovered after he had put on a random playlist he found on Melon.

(It’s a rare occurrence for them to go to bed at the same time – most of the time, either one of them would stay up late to work on their own tasks. Sometimes, the other would sleep a couple hours earlier only to wake up when the skies are still dark blue outside of their window.)

Beomgyu creates a shared playlist for them. He sends the link to Soobin through Kakaotalk, telling him to add any songs he recommends to Beomgyu, and that he’d do the same. Since the day that Beomgyu sent him the playlist, there hasn’t been any day that Soobin hasn’t added a new song.

(Beomgyu titles the playlist _roommates!!)_

So, it becomes a habit for Beomgyu to listen to their shared playlist whenever he has the chance to. He’d put it on in between walks to his classes, or when he manages to find a good cafe where he studies by himself for a good amount of time. Sometimes, Soobin tells him that he probably won’t be home until late, so he would fall asleep with earphones in his ear, phone playing their shared playlist on shuffle.

Some songs have a particular meaning to Soobin, so he doesn’t just simply add them to their playlist. When they find themselves together in their dorm with nothing to do, Soobin would call him over like this:

“Beomgyu-yah, I have a new song to show you.”

Beomgyu looks up from his phone where he was previously scrolling through his social media, “Mm?”

“It’s called _Consolation_ by Kwon Jin Ah.”

Beomgyu shoots up from his bed as he goes on the Melon app on his phone to search for the song. He reaches for his earphones on his nightstand and plugs it to his phone. He gestures for Soobin to make some space for him on his bed. The older follows – they lean against the headboard. Their arms are pressed against each other with how small the bed is, but they make do.

Before he presses play, Beomgyu looks up to offer the other earphone to Soobin, but the older flinches at the sudden movement.

“Take it,” Beomgyu looks at him funnily.

Soobin does. He tucks the earphone into his left ear just as Beomgyu places the other pair into his right ear. He presses play, and the beautiful melody starts to flow through the tangled earphone wires. Beomgyu shuts his eyes close as he listens to the soft voice of the artist.

Soobin speaks, “Back in my freshman year, I always listened to this.”

Beomgyu hums.

“It helped a lot.”

_You try to walk with me_

_It makes me smile, it makes me rest_

_Seeing how you try to be next to me_

_Comforts me_

“It’s a beautiful song.”

Beomgyu turns on his side to look at Soobin, only to find that his roommate is already looking at him. There’s something in his eyes that Beomgyu can’t seem to pinpoint. It’s dark in their room, but Soobin’s eyes seem to twinkle like little stars – the ones that you see when you come to the suburbs where there’s not a lot of towering buildings that light up the town, making the stars look much brighter than they do in a big city.

“Thank you, Soobin-hyung.” There’s a gentle smile on Beomgyu’s lips.

Before Soobin can answer, he turns his head to lean it against the older’s shoulder. He feels Soobin freeze when he does, but it doesn’t take long until his tense shoulders start to sag down. Beomgyu feels Soobin lean his head against his. This makes the corners of his lips lift up into a little smile.

“I think I needed this.” Beomgyu mutters in the silence of their room, save for the soft melody playing through the earphones, “You’re right, hyung. It helps.”

Beomgyu feels Soobin hum in a low tone, “I’m glad it does.”

And then Beomgyu starts to slowly fall asleep on Soobin’s shoulder just like that. With a hazy mind, he feels gentle fingers running through his dark locks. Along with the pleasant melody, the soft touches ease his mind, making him fall asleep in Soobin’s shoulder, right there in his twin-sized bed.

A month and a half into his first year of college, Beomgyu finally finds time to meet with Taehyun and Kai. They agree to meet at Hongdae since it’s nearer to the latter two’s university. Kai sends them the location of a cafe that he found one day while wandering around the area, saying that not a lot of people come there often, but the service is excellent. After Beomgyu gets off the bus, it takes a while for him to find the cafe. When he finally does, though, he spots Taehyun and Kai already seated at a table near the glass window of the cafe. Of course, they’d be early – they’re much nearer to the area.

Beomgyu rushes to the cafe with a huge smile on his face, and he greets his friends with the accent that’s always been so familiar to him but now feels a bit strange in a city where people speak differently from him. They greet him with the same accent, and Beomgyu’s never been so glad to hear the dialect in all 19 years of his life.

They last for two hours in the cafe – they talk about everything. Despite having constant communication through their groupchat, they don’t run out of stories to tell. They laugh over their first-time experiences in college, and they talk about annoying professors who don’t consider the workload of college students.

When they’ve finally downed the last of their meals (it was good, just as Kai had mentioned) they walk the streets of Hongdae and visit any shop that catches their eye. They go to an arcade and play games, just like how they used to back in high school. Beomgyu spends about thirty minutes on a claw machine, insisting that he has to win Kai a plushie. When he finally does, the three of them cheer loudly that one of the employees approach them and tells them to lower down their voices since they’ve already been shouting for the past hour. They leave the place red-faced, deciding that they’ve already played enough games for the day.

Somewhere along the way, Beomgyu spots a shop displaying various instruments at its front. He pulls Taehyun and Kai into the store with him, making them wait while he asks the shop owner about the different guitar models.

“Are you gonna buy a new guitar?” Kai asks.

“No,” Beomgyu says as he plays a soft tune on the classical guitar, “Soon, maybe. Anyways, the other day Soobin-hyung asked me if I could play a song for him. The song would sound better on a classical guitar, but I only have the electric at the dorm. Should I just borrow one from the music department?”

Taehyun raises his eyebrow, “Were you planning to buy a classical guitar just so you can play him a song?”

“No!” There’s a dust of red on Beomgyu’s cheeks, “I’m not that rich. Also, I need a classical guitar anyways.”

“Yah, Choi Beomgyu,”

Beomgyu looks up at the call of his full name. There’s an intimidating look on Taehyun’s face, almost like he’s suspicious of Beomgyu.

“Do you like your roommate?”

Kai snorts.

Beomgyu stops playing the guitar and scoffs, “What? Taehyun-ah, how did you even come up with that conclusion?”

“For the past hours you’ve been with us, your stories always included your roommate. We saw a tteokbokki place down that street and you immediately went _Oh! There’s this resto that Soobin and I visit often. They serve the best tteokbokki. Did you know that Soobin apparently didn’t like tteokbokki that much? How can one_ not _like the best food of all time? But fortunately, he said that he started liking it._ ” Taehyun does a terrible imitation of Beomgyu’s voice.

If Beomgyu’s face was already red earlier, it turns into a deeper shade of red now.

“I did _not_ say all of that!” He argues.

Taehyun nods at Kai, “Kai-ya, he said that, right?”

The youngest of the three hides his laugh in his hand, “He did. Not just that – when we passed by a store playing Troye Sivan, he started talking about how Soobin-hyung likes his songs.”

“See!” Taehyun shifts his gaze back to Beomgyu who’s glaring at him, “You think we wouldn’t notice. Beomgyu, we’re your best friends. And we can see that you’re _absolutely_ in love with your roommate.”

Beomgyu shakes his head, “Love is such a strong word. I’ve only known him for less than two months!”

“So, you like him?” Kai pipes up.

The red-faced male shakes his head profusely, “Why are you two ganging up on me?”

“C’mon, it’s not bad to admit that you like someone.”

“Kang Taehyun, that’s very hypocritical of you.” Beomgyu gives his friend a knowing look.

Taehyun’s eyes flash in panic, moving from Beomgyu to Kai, and then back to Beomgyu, “What are you saying?”

Beomgyu bursts out in laughter, “You can’t even keep your composure!”

Kai looks at them with a perplexed expression.

“Don’t worry about him, Kai,” Beomgyu says in between breaths of laughter, “Our Taehyunie here isn’t always as composed as he makes himself to be. But he’ll be fine, I think.”

Taehyun sneers at him, “If you wanna get home with your limbs still intact, you better shut up.”

Beomgyu laughs even harder, “Okay, okay.”

“So, do you like your roommate?” Kai asks once they’ve calmed down.

Beomgyu sticks his tongue out at the younger, “No. I’m done checking out guitars – let’s go.”

For the rest of the hours of their day together, Beomgyu becomes more conscious of his words. When they come across a pet shop, he sees a rabbit by the window and runs over to it. He’s about to tell his friends how much of a bunny his roommate looks like, but then he realizes that it would just evoke the two to tease him worse. So, he just coos at the white rabbit and leaves the pet shop without the name _Soobin_ leaving his tongue.

When the sun is starting to set and they have to part ways, Taehyun and Kai walk Beomgyu to the bus station. They send him off with a wave, promising to find time to hang out again since it wasn’t as impossible as they thought.

Beomgyu sits at the back of the bus. Without the presence of his two friends, the air around him feels a bit empty, and he’s left with his own thoughts.

It’s only natural that he talks a lot about Soobin, right? He’s around him all of the time since they’re roommates. He’s made several friends other than Soobin, but none of them are as close to him like how Soobin is. A month and a half is only a short time, and it’s quite hard to make friends that would immediately stick to you like how it would be in high school. But things are different now – it’s difficult when the campus is so big and there’s hundreds of students roaming around. How could Beomgyu find one group to stick to in such a short time? He’s known for being friendly, sure, but it was easier back in his hometown where everyone knew each other, even if it’s a faint connection. In Seoul, however, Beomgyu has to start from scratch. He has to do things in a different way from what he’d grown used to. He has to speak in a different accent so people wouldn’t hesitate to accept him. He has to learn about so many new people all at once, and that’s not an easy task to do.

With Soobin, however, it’s different. Of course, it is. Somehow, it was just easy to get to know the older (even if they had a rough start). After getting past their initial misunderstandings, it started to feel natural to just stick together. It was easy to know Soobin, because he didn’t even have to ask in the first place. They’re roommates, so they tell each other the most random things, whether they need to be known or not. Just like how Soobin found out that Beomgyu doesn’t eat seafood that one time he ordered food for them, so they ended up eating convenience-store bought gimbap for that night.

Soobin already has friends, Beomgyu is sure, but he’s glad that the older makes time for him who’s only starting to figure out his new life. He’s glad that his roommate is nice enough to not leave him to wander around alone like a lost pup. Maybe it comes with the fact that Soobin had to leave his hometown for college, just as Beomgyu did.

For Beomgyu, Soobin is the closest person he can call a home in an unfamiliar city like Seoul.

The next weekend, Beomgyu is working on a composition when Soobin approaches him.

“Beomgyu, is it okay if I bring someone over?”

“Hm?” Beomgyu barely looks up from the notebook where there’s lyrics scribbled everywhere, “S’fine. I don’t mind.”

With a noise of acknowledgement, Soobin leaves the room for a class.

When Soobin comes home in the afternoon, he brings someone over. Beomgyu didn’t expect it to be this soon. He’s still working on the same composition when Soobin comes in, followed by a guy. The first thing that Beomgyu notices about him is that his hair is dyed pink, making it look like cotton candy. There’s a friendly smile on his face directed to Beomgyu.

“Beomgyu, this is Yeonjun.”

“Hey,” Yeonjun waves, “I’m a junior in the dance department.”

Beomgyu nods to the electric guitar on his lap, “I’m in music production. A freshman.”

“Yeah, Soobin told me. Actually, he’s told a –“ Yeonjun lets out a high-pitched yelp and clutches his left forearm.

Beomgyu gives him a puzzled look. Yeonjun flashes another smile.

“Nice to meet you, Beomgyu.”

Beomgyu finds that Soobin brought Yeonjun over to watch a movie with him. They sit crammed on Soobin’s bed with a laptop in front of them while sharing earphones. They invite Beomgyu to watch with them, but Beomgyu tells them that he has to finish the composition that he’s working on. (Earphones can only be shared between two people anyways, Beomgyu thinks.)

Throughout the whole duration of the movie, Beomgyu observes them from the corner of his eye. He tries to shift his focus back to the notebook on his desk and the guitar on his lap, but the subtle laughs echoing in the room keep on distracting him. Soobin and Yeonjun seem to be enjoying the movie, Beomgyu assumes. They seem to be close, too, with the way that Soobin is leaning onto Yeonjun and how the older male’s hand is resting on Soobin’s thigh. There’s a weird feeling in Beomgyu’s chest that he can’t seem to shake off, so he stops looking at them and shifts his attention back to his task.

For two hours, he barely gets any work done.

When the movie finishes, Yeonjun stays for a couple more minutes before bidding goodbye to the two roommates. He tells Beomgyu to join them next time, and Beomgyu only nods with a polite smile. Soobin sends him off with a hearty laugh. Beomgyu’s chest tightens even more. He contemplates if he should open the windows to let some air in, since it’s getting a bit hard to breathe in the room.

When Soobin finally shuts the door, silence settles over them, save for Beomgyu’s occasional strumming of the guitar. Soobin is silent behind him, so Beomgyu assumes that he’s resting on his bed.

“So,” Beomgyu speaks after a while, “Yeonjun is your boyfriend...?”

There’s the sound of bed sheets shuffling from behind him, “Oh my god, no.”

Beomgyu turns to look at Soobin. He’s sitting up straight in his bed, and there’s a look of disbelief written clear in his face.

“He’s my best friend,” Soobin laughs, “I met him last year. Besides, he’s dating someone in his department.”

Oh. With Soobin’s words, Beomgyu somehow feels... relieved. It’s as if the coil that was previously wrapped tightly around his chest suddenly disappeared, and the room doesn’t feel so stuffy anymore.

“I’m not dating anyone, by the way.” Soobin adds hastily.

Beomgyu tilts his head to the side, “That’s... good to know?”

“Yeah,” Soobin’s face looks a bit flushed. He lies back down on his bed and brings his phone up to his face.

Beomgyu only shakes his head and turns to his desk again and proceeds to write down the melody in his head.

The next day, Beomgyu wakes up at five in the morning with the melody of his unfinished song playing in his mind. He tries to go back to sleep, but his own thoughts only keep him up. So, he gets up, makes coffee, and sits down on his desk to continue working on his composition. He takes the guitar from where it’s leaning against his desk. He doesn’t bother plugging it in to his amplifier – behind him, Soobin is still sound asleep. Beomgyu doesn’t want to wake him up. So, he strums the guitar lightly and hums along in a low tone.

It’s three hours later when Beomgyu sees Soobin suddenly shoot up from his bed. The older male grabs his phone from the nightstand and yelps when he sees the time.

“Fuck. I’m late for class.” Is the first thing he says. Then, he’s rushing to take anything from his closet and runs with them to the bathroom. Beomgyu laughs. He would’ve woken up his roommate, but he himself didn’t see how much time had already passed since he woke up.

When Soobin comes out of the bathroom, he’s already in decent clothes (although his shirt isn’t properly aligned on his shoulders and his hair hasn’t been combed down). He rushes to take his keys and laptop on his desk, and then he’s shoving his feet into his shoes by the door. Before he can make it out of the door, Beomgyu calls him.

“Soobin-hyung,”

He turns around, “Yeah?”

“Didn’t you forget something?”

There’s a look of confusion on Soobin’s face, but then he’s taking big steps over to Beomgyu’s desk. Before Beomgyu can make sense of what’s happening, Soobin is already leaning down and swiftly pressing his lips on Beomgyu’s cheek.

Beomgyu feels his heart stop for a second.

“See you later, Beomgyu.” He feels the warmth of Soobin’s breath against his ear.

Suddenly, Soobin is already out of his space and making his way to the door.

“Wait!”

Soobin turns around again.

“I meant this.” Beomgyu stretches out his hand – on his palm is Soobin’s phone.

There’s a look of horror on Soobin’s face, “Oh.”

He takes the phone from Beomgyu’s hand and dashes out of the room before Beomgyu can say anything else.

_What the hell just happened?_

When Soobin returns later that evening, there’s something different about the air around him. Or maybe it’s just the way he isn’t looking at Beomgyu in the eye. He enters their room without a word (unlikely of him since he usually greets Beomgyu) and he proceeds to sit on his desk and pulls out a book from his bag. Beomgyu watches him as he moves, expecting the older to say something. A minute passes, and then two, until it’s been ten minutes and Soobin is still focused on highlighting the pages on his book.

Maybe he’s just having a bad day, Beomgyu thinks.

In an attempt to make his roommate feel better, Beomgyu offers to play him a song.

“Soobin-hyung, remember that song you wanted me to play? I think I got the chords already. Do you want to hear it now?” Beomgyu moves to reach for his guitar placed at the foot of his bed.

“No,” Soobin answers and Beomgyu pauses. He looks at Soobin who’s sitting in front of his desk with his back facing Beomgyu.

“It’s fine. You can play it another time.” Then he proceeds to flip to another page of the book.

His words feel cold – it’s a tone that Beomgyu has never heard from him before in the two months that they’ve been roommates. Soobin’s words to him have always sounded soft (save for their first meeting where Soobin yelled in pain). Beomgyu has grown used to the way Soobin speaks delicately that his harsh tone comes as a surprise to the freshman. It makes Beomgyu’s chest twist uncomfortably, but he brushes it off. Soobin is just having a bad day, he thinks to himself.

Unfortunately, Soobin’s bad day doesn’t seem to end there; he continues to act strange around Beomgyu. His words feel distant, as if there’s a glass wall between him and Beomgyu, making it difficult for the latter to understand what Soobin is saying. Does his “ _no_ ” mean _no, I’m busy_ , or does it mean _no, I don’t want to eat dinner with you, Beomgyu_? Over the next few days, Beomgyu starts to second-guess Soobin’s words. He starts to wonder if something happened with his roommate.

Beomgyu wants to ask Soobin if something’s up; he wants to tell his roommate that he can tell him anything if he wants and that it’s fine – Beomgyu can help him with it whatever it is, since they’re roommates anyways.

Beomgyu tries to talk to him when they’re both in bed and Soobin has his laptop in front of him with the blinding blue light reflecting against his face.

“Soobin-hyung,”

Soobin doesn’t look up from his screen, “Yeah?”

“Is anything wrong? You can tell me, you know.”

The loud typing sound comes to a stop.

“It’s nothing, Beomgyu.” Soobin’s tone is cold and distant, even more than how it had been in the past few days.

“Oh. Okay.”

Then, Soobin’s fingers proceed to fly across his keyboard again – the only sounds in their room being his typing and the loud air conditioner.

Beomgyu thinks that if nothing happened with Soobin, then maybe the fault is in him. His mind backtracks to the past days, wondering what led Soobin to act distant with him, but he doesn’t recall anything that could’ve possibly angered his roommate. He observes Soobin from the corner of his eye; there’s a stern look on his face, almost like he’s frustrated with whatever he’s working on. Or maybe it has something to do with Beomgyu’s presence in the room. The freshman shakes his head, willing himself to not overthink his roommate’s actions.

Beomgyu moves across his bed and pulls out the drawer of his nightstand. He fumbles around the scattered items until he finds what he’s looking for. He places it beside Soobin’s laptop. The older male finally looks up at him, asking with his eyes what the item is for.

“They’re blue light blocking glasses. You should wear them so your eyesight doesn’t get ruined.” There’s a soft smile on Beomgyu’s lips.

“Oh...” Soobin takes the glasses in his hands, “Thanks, Beomgyu.”

Somehow, Soobin’s tone doesn’t seem to be that harsh anymore. The weight that’s been weighing down on Beomgyu for the past few days lightens a bit, but he still wonders what impelled Soobin to set a long distance between them.

His answer comes two days later.

Beomgyu is in the elevator of his dorm building, waiting for the digits on the side panel to turn to _5_. When the doors open, he sees Yeonjun standing right before him. The male takes a step inside the elevator, then he recognizes Beomgyu.

There’s a look of surprise on his face, “Oh. Hey Beomgyu.”

“Hi, hyung,” Beomgyu gives him a small wave, “What were you doing on our floor?”

“I was going to visit but he’s not at your dorm,”

“Ah, he probably has classes...” Beomgyu steps out of the elevator. Yeonjun presses a button on the side panel.

The elevators start to close.

“Wait!” Beomgyu holds the other side of the door, making the doors automatically move back to open.

“Can I ask you something?”

Yeonjun nods, waiting for his next words.

“Do you know if Soobin-hyung is mad at me?”

Yeonjun’s eyebrows raise up, “No. Why would you think that?”

“Well,” Beomgyu sighs, “He’s been acting a bit cold lately. It might have something to do with me, but I don’t know what I did.”

“Oh, _that._ ” Yeonjun’s expression softens. The doors start to close again, but he steps out and stands in front of Beomgyu.

“I don’t think Soobin means to act that way. I’ve known him for a while now, and he probably just doesn’t know what to do. You’re right – it has something to do with you, but trust me when I say that you didn’t do anything wrong. More like it’s Soobin who’s beating himself up over something that he did right now.”

Beomgyu looks at him, perplexed.

Yeonjun laughs lightly, “You should ask him about it. And don’t let him avoid your question. He’s just being a bit stupid right now.”

The elevator doors open again.

“I’ll head down now,” Yeonjun points to the elevator with his thumb, “Goodluck with Soobin, Beomgyu.”

He steps inside the elevator and gives Beomgyu a smile.

“Thank you... I guess.” Beomgyu watches as the doors close. The panel on the side of the elevator shows the digits decreasing slowly. He’s left alone with his thoughts again. Yeonjun’s words left him with even more questions, but at least he feels more at peace now knowing that he didn’t accidentally do anything wrong to Soobin.

Still, he wants to hear the words from Soobin himself. Beomgyu still feels uneasy and he’s worried about his roommate.

When Beomgyu gets to his dorm, he chucks off his shoes and jumps into his bed. He pulls out his phone from his pocket and calls Taehyun. It takes four rings before he answers.

“Taehyun-ah,” Beomgyu whines into the phone as he rolls over in his bed.

“Have you finally realized that you like your roommate?” Taehyun’s voice sounds flat.

“You’re still onto that?” Beomgyu groans, “He’s acting weird around me, anyways.”

“Hm? What happened?”

Beomgyu sighs, “I don’t know. He’s just been... awkward. I saw Yeonjun-hyung earlier and he told me that I didn’t do anything wrong but I still have _no_ idea why Soobin-hyung is acting like that.”

There’s a long pause before Taehyun speaks again. “Do you remember when he started being awkward?”

“Well, I tried to but...” Suddenly, Beomgyu gasps, “ _Oh god._ The kiss!”

“You kissed each other?!” Taehyun yells from the other end of the phone. Then, Beomgyu hears him muttering muffled _sorry_ ’s. His friend must be in a public place, Beomgyu deduces.

“No! He kissed me on the cheek while he was in a rush since he woke up late for class. That was like, a week ago. I think that’s when he started acting awkward around me.”

Taehyun laughs, “Why not talk to him, then? It’s not like you can avoid each other since you’re roommates.”

“I did, I did!” Beomgyu cries, “I tried to ask what’s up, but he only said that it’s nothing.”

“Put him in a headlock and make him say it.” Taehyun jokes.

Beomgyu huffs as he lets his face fall on his pillow, “I’m not like you, Taehyun-ah. Besides, you can’t even tell Kai that you like him.”

“At least I’ve admitted to myself that I like him!” Taehyun scoffs, “Unlike you who’s still denying that you’re _helplessly in love_ with your dear roommate.”

Beomgyu sits up on his bed, “What makes you say that?”

“Beomgyu. Close your eyes and imagine this,” Beomgyu follows Taehyun’s words and closes his eyes, “Soobin is in front of you and there’s a big, big smile on his face. The kind of smile that you like seeing on him. Then, he’s saying that he likes you and asks you out. What would you say?”

Beomgyu tries to imagine the scenario that Taehyun has given him. There’s only silence on the other end of the call.

“Choi Beomgyu. Did you just giggle?”

Beomgyu’s eyes shoot open and declares sternly, “No, I didn’t.”

“You _did_! Oh god, you’re like a high school girl with a crush. Gross.”

“Yah, Kang Taehyun! Is this what you imagine with Kai before you go to sleep?”

Taehyun fumbles with his words, “Stop trying to change the topic! We’re talking about your roommate that you’re so desperately in love with?”

“And what if I am?” Beomgyu almost wants to stick his tongue out at his friend, but he isn’t there to see his teasing face anyways.

“So, you admit it. That you like him.” There’s a hint of victory to Taehyun’s voice.

“Wait. You’re right. I like Soobin-hyung.”

Beomgyu hears Taehyun’s loud sigh, “You’re a mess. And you should be saying that to him, not me.”

“Do I tell him?” All of a sudden, Beomgyu’s voice sounds less lively than earlier.

“It’s up to you, Gyu.”

It’s as if there’s a lightbulb lighting up above Beomgyu’s head, and then there’s words quickly flying out of his mouth, “Okay. First one to confess to their crush gets five free meals from the loser. Valid until the end of the year. I’m hanging up now. Bye, Taehyun-ah!”

“Are you coercing me to confess to Kai? Choi Beom-“

Beomgyu ends the call, cutting off Taehyun’s panicked voice. He cackles to himself as rows of (angry) messages from Taehyun floods his notifications.

Deciding to study for his history test scheduled the next day, Beomgyu gets up to sit on his desk. Before he can settle on the chair, he spots a book placed on his desk. It’s different from all the books he’s held in the past months, including all his large school textbooks and the books he borrowed from Soobin. It’s thin but big in size, and there’s a bright illustration of a little boy on the cover. Sticked on the top left corner of the hardcover is a yellow post-it note with Soobin’s neat and tiny handwriting.

_Beomgyu,_

_This was one of my favorite books as a child. I thought you’d like to read it._

– _Soobin._

Beomgyu takes his seat and flips through the pages of the book. There’s not a lot of pages to it (compared to the novels that Soobin recommended) since it’s a children’s book. The story is mostly shown through the colorful illustration spanning the whole pages, along with a few lines in Korean characters describing the boy in the story. It’s about a boy who receives love and returns all the love to the world. The boy receives love from everything he comes across – from adults, to the trees and flowers around him. Towards the middle, he decides that he doesn’t need all that love to himself, so he goes on a journey to give love to everyone else. It reminds Beomgyu of the stories that his mom used to read to him when he was only a kid.

When he gets to the very last page of the book, there’s another yellow post-it sticked on the right page of the hardcover.

_Beomgyu,_

_Actually... this book was just an excuse for me to tell you something. I’m sorry if I seem cold to you in the past few days. Honestly, I was just ashamed of myself since I mistakenly kissed you on the cheek while half asleep and I didn’t know how to act in front of you. Since it’s all out in the open already, I’ll tell you the truth. I’m too embarrassed to say it directly, so I hope this is okay._

_I like you, Beomgyu._

– _Soobin._

Beomgyu snaps the book closed and fumbles to reach for his phone that was tossed to his bed earlier. He calls Taehyun again and the boy answers in less than a second.

“You didn’t even let me finish–“

Beomgyu cuts him off, “I think I’m really going to tell Soobin-hyung.”

Beomgyu doesn’t get to speak to Soobin until the next day since the latter didn’t come back to their dorm that night. He’s at the campus library when he spots Soobin on the second floor with a book laid out in front of him. He seems to be immersed in the book, whatever it’s about. Beomgyu watches as Soobin’s eyes quickly scan through the lines in the book. The other seats on the table he’s seated in are empty, so Beomgyu assumes that he came to the library by himself. He carefully moves away from the table so Soobin doesn’t spot him.

Beomgyu searches around the library for a book – the first one that he read from the pile on Soobin’s desk. The one that he finds has a different cover; it looks like an older version of what Soobin has.

He takes out a pen and a notepad from his bag. He swiftly writes on a sheet.

_Soobin-hyung,_

_I like you, too._

– _Beomgyu._

He rips the sheet from the notepad and tucks it into the first page of the book and returns to where Soobin is seated. When he arrives at the second floor, Soobin is still on the same spot. His black hair falls over his eyes beautifully, and his cheek rests on his left palm while he flips through the book with the other hand.

Beomgyu makes his way to the table and slides into the chair across Soobin. The older male looks up at the sudden movement, and then his eyes widen at the sight of Beomgyu. His mouth opens to say something, but Beomgyu presses his index finger against his lips, shushing his roommate.

Wordlessly, Beomgyu slides the book to Soobin’s side of the table. The boy gives him a questioning gaze, but Beomgyu only motions for Soobin to open the book. So, the latter takes the book in his hands with a tad uncertainty written across his soft features.

Beomgyu takes a deep breath as he watches Soobin flip the book open. He sees his roommate’s eyes widen in surprise, and then he peers at Beomgyu through the book. Beomgyu only gives him a little smile. There’s a puzzled look on Soobin’s face, as if he doesn’t know what to do next.

Beomgyu passes a folded piece of paper to him. Soobin takes it and unfolds it. When he reads the characters written in Beomgyu’s handwriting, he lets out a soft laugh. He looks at Beomgyu before taking a pen from his bag and scribbling something down on the piece of paper. He folds it neatly, and then slides it to the space in front of Beomgyu.

Beomgyu opens the note. He recognizes the familiar words that he jotted down earlier.

_Will you go out with me, hyung?_

Just below that is a single word written in Soobin’s handwriting:

_Yes._

Then, he’s looking up at Soobin and giving him the same wide smile that’s painted across the older male’s face. He feels relieved at seeing Soobin’s smile, sitting across him and looking so pretty. Beomgyu’s chest is brimming with joy – right then and there, he doesn’t have to worry about anything anymore. He doesn’t have to rack his mind for what he’s done wrong to Soobin, because there isn’t anything of the sort after all.

But more than that, he’s found something for himself that he never thought he’d find so soon. When Beomgyu first came to Seoul, he never expected to find anything more than a few good friends. The first person he met coming to the city was Soobin, and he expected to make an enemy out of the other due to their unfortunate first meeting, but thankfully, they ended up here, right across each other baring their genuine feelings.

Some few weeks later, Beomgyu is sitting on his bed with his laptop in front of him, displaying Taehyun and Kai’s pixelized faces in one frame as they sit in Kai’s dorm. It’s the week after their finals, so they’ve got a lot of free time for themselves. Taehyun and Kai take that opportunity to see each other, hence the both of them hanging at Kai’s dorm.

“I can’t believe you guys decided to meet up without me,” Beomgyu glares at them through the screen.

Taehyun gives him a sheepish smile, “We didn’t know your exams ended yesterday.”

“You could’ve asked me!” Beomgyu whines, “And Taehyun-ah, you still owe me those five free meals.”

“What free meals?” Kai moves so his face is more visible in the frame.

“Uh,” Taehyun eyes him, “You tell him, Gyu.”

Beomgyu cackles as he sees Taehyun’s shaking eyes, “I told him that whoever ends up confessing to their crush first will get free five meals from the loser.”

All of a sudden, Kai is tackling Taehyun to the ground and only the top of their heads are visible on the screen.

“So, you wouldn’t have confessed to me if it weren’t for Beomgyu-hyung?”

Beomgyu hears a loud thud and a screech of pain.

“No, I would’ve told you anyways!”

Kai scoffs, “As if you would!”

While the couple are (probably) wrestling each other out of the frame, Beomgyu hears keys jingling outside the door of the room.

“Soobin-hyung is here,” He announces.

The couple scramble to sit in front of the camera again. When they’re settled, Kai pushes Taehyun off the bed and smiles innocently at the camera as the latter groans.

The door opens to reveal and weary Soobin. He kicks off his shoes as he shuts the door and tosses his bag to his bed. Once he’s done, he treads to Beomgyu’s bed, loops his arms around his waist and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

“Gross,” Taehyun comments.

Soobin’s eyes move to the laptop at the foot of the bed, “Oh, you’re on a call?”

“Hi, Soobin-hyung.” Kai smiles and Taehyun gives a little wave.

Beomgyu ignores Taehyun’s comment and combs down Soobin’s hair, “Did your last test go well?”

“Mhm,” Soobin nods as he closes his eyes, relaxing at Beomgyu’s touch.

“You’re disgusting.” Taehyun jokes.

Beomgyu rolls his eyes, “You and Kai are _much_ worse than Soobin-hyung and I. Right, Kai?”

Kai laughs awkwardly, “Haha. If chokeholds are a form of affection, then I guess so.”

“Taehyun-ah, give Kai a break.” Beomgyu laughs as he shakes his head.

“I think I give him enough love,” Taehyun comes close to Kai’s face and takes his cheeks between his palms, “Right, Kai?”

This time, it’s Beomgyu commenting, “Gross.”

Soobin, who’s head is resting on Beomgyu’s lap, only laughs, “You guys are cute.”

Beomgyu remembers what they were talking about before Soobin came to the room, “Kang Taehyun, don’t think I’m forgetting my free five meals.”

“Hm? What’s that about?” Soobin looks up at Beomgyu who’s now attempting to braid the former’s hair despite the short length.

“Beomgyu told me that whoever ends up confessing to their crush first between us gets free meals from the loser.” Taehyun answers.

“Your crush?” Soobin laughs, “So it’s me, Beomgyu?”

“Soobin-hyung, we’re dating already.” Beomgyu says flatly. Taehyun and Kai’s cackles blare from the speakers of the laptop.

“I know. But still, it’s nice to hear about how much you liked me.” There’s a soft smile on Soobin’s face as he squeezes Beomgyu’s hand.

Taehyun pipes in, “Oh, I can tell you _all_ about that.”

Beomgyu’s loving gaze at Soobin quickly shifts to a fiery one directed to Taehyun, “Shut up before I physically come there to beat you up.”

“That’s my line, though,” Taehyun gives him a glare.

“I’d actually want to see that,” Kai laughs.

“Oh – I have an idea,” Soobin perks up, “How about we just have five double dates together? And then Beomgyu and Taehyun take turns paying.”

“I’m not going to pay for _four_ people,” Beomgyu cries, “Soobin-hyung, I thought you were on my side.”

Taehyun adds, “And who’s going to pay for the fifth one? It’s uneven.”

“Hm, how about Beomgyu and I treat you, and then two of you treat us. Then we invite Yeonjun-hyung and his boyfriend and split the bill at the last date?”

“That’s actually not bad,” Kai comments.

Beomgyu dramaticizes, “It’s still my loss!”

“Give it up already, Beomgyu-hyung.” Taehyun says with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Soobin squeezes Beomgyu’s cheeks in his hand to stop him from fake crying, “At least we get to go on _five_ dates, Gyu.”

Beomgyu shoulder’s sag down and he relents, “Fine.”

When Beomgyu came to Seoul, he left his hometown with a heavy heart but with an eager spirit to experience so many things in a new city. On the train ride to the city, he wondered about all the possibilities and experiences that Seoul could give him, but never did he consider the possibility of coming across someone who would become a big part of his life in only a matter of a short time. Never did he imagine that the student he’d rolled his heavy suitcase over who gave him a terrifying glare would end up being his roommate. More than that, he never imagined the possibility of them to end up dating. (If Beomgyu is being honest, he owes it to Taehyun for making him realize his true feelings – he had been a bit too oblivious that time.)

Indeed, attending a university in Seoul gave Beomgyu experiences that he knows he never would’ve come across if he complacently stayed in his hometown. He’s glad that he didn’t let up at persuading his parents to let him come to Seoul. Now, he’s standing in the city with a much different (and definitely better) version of himself from a few months back. But most importantly, Beomgyu thinks, he met Soobin here in Seoul. The person who’s shown him all the things he has to know in college; the person who’s the closest he can call his home whenever his heart desperately misses the fresh air of Daegu.

Soobin, the person who promised Beomgyu that he'll stay by his side as he ventures in a city that used to be so unfamiliar and new to Beomgyu.

(Of course, Beomgyu promises Soobin the same.)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! i hope u enjoyed <3
> 
> kudos and comments are appreciated!
> 
> find me on twt @minizode


End file.
